Haliburton's Return Was the Easy Part — Now Indiana Has to Survive Without Zubac

Tyrese Haliburton's first real basketball game in 468 days was everything the Pacers could have scripted: 23 points, 12 assists, an emotional postgame interview, and a 123-120 comeback win in New Orleans on opening night. Four games later, Indiana sits at 2-2, and the story of the week has shifted from a comeback to a survival exercise.

The week that was: a 136-109 demolition of Brooklyn on the road, followed the very next night by a 110-102 loss in Milwaukee on the second half of a back-to-back, and — most consequentially — a frontcourt that lost its starting center in the middle of the good news.

The Haliburton baseline is real. Through four games he's averaging 21.8 points, 9.5 assists, and 4.5 rebounds on 51.6 percent shooting and 37.0 percent from three in 33 minutes a night. The shot profile looks like the pre-injury version: a 24-point, 10-assist night against the Nets (+29), a 22-point outing in Milwaukee, and only 2.2 turnovers per game. Whatever the Pacers become this season, the engine is functioning.

Pascal Siakam is carrying the scoring load — with one glaring leak. Siakam leads the team at 23.5 points and 7.8 rebounds on 52.9 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from deep. The problem is at the line, where he's shooting 56.0 percent (14-of-25). In a 105-121 home loss to Dallas and an eight-point loss in Milwaukee, those are the kinds of points that separate a 2-2 week from a 3-1 one.

The Zubac injury is the week's real hinge. Ivica Zubac had been productive in his first three games — 9.0 points, 9.0 rebounds, 60 percent shooting — before exiting the Brooklyn win after just seven minutes. His absence forced a committee approach: ten Pacers played more than 15 minutes against the Nets, Jay Huff responded with 14 points and three blocks in 21 minutes, and Jalen Slawson continued his climb into the rotation. Huff's first start, in Milwaukee, was rougher: six points, six rebounds, 0-of-3 from three, minus-8 in 23 minutes. That's the adjustment curve Indiana is living on right now.

Compounding it, Ben Sheppard is set to undergo surgery Wednesday for a torn meniscus, ending a season that had barely started (three points in 12 minutes in the opener) and thinning a backcourt that was already relying on internal development.

Why it matters for the weeks ahead. Indiana's profile through four games is what you'd expect from a team with a healthy star and a hole in the middle: 116.5 points per game against 115.0 allowed, a plus-1.5 differential, an offensive rating of 114.2 and a defensive rating of 112.8 — 11th leaguewide. They play fast (101.8 pace, eighth in the league), which magnifies both the scoring and the rebounding exposure when the center rotation is makeshift. An SRS-style power rating has them 26th, well below what a Haliburton-led roster suggests — a gap that reflects exactly this: talent at the top, uncertainty underneath.

The immediate test is a home date with Philadelphia (3-1), whose defense is allowing just 107.0 points per game and whose 102.6 defensive rating ranks fifth in the league. The Sixers' 110.0 points per game is modest, but their defensive integrity is precisely the wrong matchup for a team missing its primary interior anchor.

If Haliburton's return was the season's emotional reset, the next few weeks are the practical exam: can Indiana hold the paint together long enough for Zubac to return, and can Siakam's efficiency survive without a true big drawing help? The Pacers have their point guard back. Everything else is still up for grabs.